Monday, May 21, 2012

Facebook’s I.P.O. and Dual-Class Share Structures : The New Yorker

Closing paragraph of a James Surowiecki Facebook IPO reality check

"For many start-ups, staying private or selling yourself to a bigger company—as Instagram did when it sold out to Facebook for a billion dollars—has never looked more appealing. Public companies aren’t going to disappear, but we are witnessing a significant shift in power from shareholders to entrepreneurs and managers, one that may make the stock market less central to American capitalism. Facebook’s I.P.O. was the biggest tech I.P.O. the U.S. has ever seen. It also seems likely to be the biggest it will ever see."